31 Days of Scream-O-Ween! - The Fog

Thursday

Oct 10, 2013 at 5:20 PM

By Adam Ruhl

If you’re under a certain age you may only know The Fog fromthe abysmal 2005 remake. Surprise, the real The Fog is a 1980 classic horrorfilm from John Carpenter. This film has been hard to come by until ScreamFactory’s Collector’s Edition of The Fog finally brought it to Blu-ray. It isone of the finest collector’s editions they’ve put out, chock full of extrasand some very choice interviews. The sticker on the front of the slip coverdeclares the movie “John Carpenter’s classic” and this is an importantqualification. While it has become a valued member of Carpenter’s body of workand it is enjoyable to watch time and again; The Fog is far from a masterpieceand Carpenter’s sophomore horror effort after Halloween exists as something ofa wonderful failure.

The Fog

The Film:The town of Antonio Bay is celebrating its hundredthanniversary, unaware that some of the town’s founders took part in murder tofund their colony. In 1880 a group of lepers offered the founders gold to beable to set up a colony a few miles away. Not wanting lepers nearby, but stillwanting the money, they took the gold and used a false signal to cause the lepership to crash into the rocks and sink.

Now in 1980 we follow groups of people in Antonio Bay asthey prepare for the centennial celebration. Jamie Lee Curtis plays ahitchhiker who is picked up by a local played by Tom Atkins. Hal Holbrook playsa priest who discovers his ancestor’s diary confessing to the murders. Janet Leigh (Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother andPsycho star) plays the organizer of the town’s celebration with Nancy Loomis(Who starred with Jamie Lee in Halloween) as her assistant. Adrienne Barbeaudoes an amazing job as DJ Stevie Wayne, broadcasting a smooth jazz station outof a lighthouse up on a cliff. As night falls a mysterious fog rolls in from the ocean. Thetownsfolk soon realize there is something in the fog; ghosts of the murderedlepers come back for revenge. The lead ghost is played by Rob Bottin (theeffects artist of The Howling, another great Scream Factory release) though theghosts look more like pirates than lepers (ghost pirate lepers?).The result isa pretty decent ghost story with amazing visuals and great performances, butthe total package never quite fully comes together. The characters never sharea scene until near the very end (Adrienne is sequestered in the light house foralmost the entire film). The ghost’s backstory is vague and they never speak,relying on the diary to tell the audience what’s going on in a couple bursts ofexposition.

John Carpenter reshot a large portion of the movie to addmore gore and scares and it shows. There are jarring moments when somethingincredibly violent suddenly occurs and doesn’t relate to other elements of themovie. Finding his horror soup too thin he kept throwing scenes in to try andthicken it up and only served to disrupt the flow of the film. There’s also along prologue with John Houseman telling a ghost story that only seems to bethere to bump up the run time of the film.

However, even though it’s very rough at points and shows itswarts, The Fog endures the test of time. I attribute this to two elements;first that John Carpenter is an immensely entertaining visual director whogives us something fun to watch even if he himself doesn’t seem one hundredpercent sure where it’s going. Second is Adrienne Barbeau stealing this show;she is locked in a lighthouse for the whole movie and the film shines brightestwhen she’s on screen. She’s passionate, she’s sultry, she can fight a ghost, andshe brings a much needed spark of warmth to the movie with one of horrors mostunforgettable characters.

The Disc:The film looks great; this is how you want to see your1980’s horror films. Rich darks, full grain film, and a crisp John Carpenterscore in DTS. Previous DVD releases are vastly inferior; this Blu-ray editionis the one to add to the collection.

The John Carpenter commentary is not super. He seems to onlytalk about where each shot was filmed, Debra Hill had more production tid-bitsto offer (Check out Carpenters commentary on Scream Factory’s They Liveinstead). The new commentary with Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, and Tommy LeeWallace is a lot of fun with the three of them reminiscing on the filming andre-filming of The Fog. Also don’t miss the interview with Jamie Lee Curtis; shesheds a great deal of light on the circumstances around the filming of The Fog.

Gore Factor: A / Amongst the reshot footage is some almostSaws level shots.

Repeat view-ability: A / I’ve seen this movie over 100 times.

Add The Fog to your collection, click HERE!

Checking out yesterday's Scream Factory review, The Vampire Lovers!

By Adam Ruhl

If you’re under a certain age you may only know The Fog from
the abysmal 2005 remake. Surprise, the real The Fog is a 1980 classic horror
film from John Carpenter. This film has been hard to come by until Scream
Factory’s Collector’s Edition of The Fog finally brought it to Blu-ray. It is
one of the finest collector’s editions they’ve put out, chock full of extras
and some very choice interviews. The sticker on the front of the slip cover
declares the movie “John Carpenter’s classic” and this is an important
qualification. While it has become a valued member of Carpenter’s body of work
and it is enjoyable to watch time and again; The Fog is far from a masterpiece
and Carpenter’s sophomore horror effort after Halloween exists as something of
a wonderful failure.

The Fog

The Film:
The town of Antonio Bay is celebrating its hundredth
anniversary, unaware that some of the town’s founders took part in murder to
fund their colony. In 1880 a group of lepers offered the founders gold to be
able to set up a colony a few miles away. Not wanting lepers nearby, but still
wanting the money, they took the gold and used a false signal to cause the leper
ship to crash into the rocks and sink.

Now in 1980 we follow groups of people in Antonio Bay as
they prepare for the centennial celebration. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a
hitchhiker who is picked up by a local played by Tom Atkins. Hal Holbrook plays
a priest who discovers his ancestor’s diary confessing to the murders. Janet Leigh (Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother and
Psycho star) plays the organizer of the town’s celebration with Nancy Loomis
(Who starred with Jamie Lee in Halloween) as her assistant. Adrienne Barbeau
does an amazing job as DJ Stevie Wayne, broadcasting a smooth jazz station out
of a lighthouse up on a cliff.
As night falls a mysterious fog rolls in from the ocean. The
townsfolk soon realize there is something in the fog; ghosts of the murdered
lepers come back for revenge. The lead ghost is played by Rob Bottin (the
effects artist of The Howling, another great Scream Factory release) though the
ghosts look more like pirates than lepers (ghost pirate lepers?).The result is
a pretty decent ghost story with amazing visuals and great performances, but
the total package never quite fully comes together. The characters never share
a scene until near the very end (Adrienne is sequestered in the light house for
almost the entire film). The ghost’s backstory is vague and they never speak,
relying on the diary to tell the audience what’s going on in a couple bursts of
exposition.

John Carpenter reshot a large portion of the movie to add
more gore and scares and it shows. There are jarring moments when something
incredibly violent suddenly occurs and doesn’t relate to other elements of the
movie. Finding his horror soup too thin he kept throwing scenes in to try and
thicken it up and only served to disrupt the flow of the film. There’s also a
long prologue with John Houseman telling a ghost story that only seems to be
there to bump up the run time of the film.

However, even though it’s very rough at points and shows its
warts, The Fog endures the test of time. I attribute this to two elements;
first that John Carpenter is an immensely entertaining visual director who
gives us something fun to watch even if he himself doesn’t seem one hundred
percent sure where it’s going. Second is Adrienne Barbeau stealing this show;
she is locked in a lighthouse for the whole movie and the film shines brightest
when she’s on screen. She’s passionate, she’s sultry, she can fight a ghost, and
she brings a much needed spark of warmth to the movie with one of horrors most
unforgettable characters.

The Disc:
The film looks great; this is how you want to see your
1980’s horror films. Rich darks, full grain film, and a crisp John Carpenter
score in DTS. Previous DVD releases are vastly inferior; this Blu-ray edition
is the one to add to the collection.
The John Carpenter commentary is not super. He seems to only
talk about where each shot was filmed, Debra Hill had more production tid-bits
to offer (Check out Carpenters commentary on Scream Factory’s They Live
instead). The new commentary with Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, and Tommy Lee
Wallace is a lot of fun with the three of them reminiscing on the filming and
re-filming of The Fog. Also don’t miss the interview with Jamie Lee Curtis; she
sheds a great deal of light on the circumstances around the filming of The Fog.

The Features:
Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Producer Debra Hill
New Audio Commentary with Actors Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, and production designer Tommy Lee Wallace
My Time with Terror with Jamie Lee Curtis
Dean of Darkness with Dean Cundey
Fear on Film: Inside The Fog
Tales from the Mist: Inside The Fog
The Fog: Storyboard to Film
Horror’s Hallowed Grounds
Storyboards
Special Effects Tests
TV Spots
Outtakes
Photo Galleries
Theatrical Trailers

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